PICKERINGTON, Ohio — Inside Tom Phillips’ office, among the plaques hanging that honor Pickerington North High School’s head coach and many of his past teams, amid the dozen or so athletic bags piled up on the floor that signify the end of another playoff season, there are two framed photos on the wall that stand out.
One is the U.S. Army All-American jersey of current Michigan tight end Jake Butt with a photo tucked inside of Butt donning his high school uniform. The other is a series of Pat Elflein images — from both Ohio State and Pickerington North — molded together above Big Ten and national championship rings.
Jake Butt's U.S. Army All-American jersey in Pickerington North coach Tom Phillips' office.
As soon as Phillips' door opens, it’s hard to miss these two pieces of memorabilia.
“I’ll hang whatever I can get in here,” Phillips jokes. “But it certainly seems like these guys are the ones that bring the most stuff.”
That’s because even though Phillips has coached his fair share of high-caliber football players in his 10 years as North’s head football coach, there haven’t been many like Elflein and Butt. They were two players who helped mold the Pickerington North program into what it is today.
And that’s a big reason why Saturday will be so unique for Phillips as he watches two of his former players square off for the final time — Elflein as a fifth-year senior captain for Ohio State; Butt a senior captain for Michigan. The two were high school teammates here and very good friends growing up. Now, they’re competing against each other for the fourth time in college football’s biggest rivalry.
Phillips will surely be watching with pride as two of his former players go head-to-head in the biggest version of The Game in a decade, but even he knows the friendship between Elflein and Butt that dates back years will be the furthest thing from each’s mind.
“I’m trying to get into that game,” Phillips said with a smile. “They’re really good friends, but when they step on that field, Jake is going to be a good teammate to Michigan and Pat is going to be a good teammate to Ohio State and they’re out to beat each other.”
Elflein was one year older than Butt in school, but because they both shared a common love for football and were teammates at North, it was easy to see why they became such good friends.
Phillips said their similar work ethics — the rare kind for high school kids — was what drew them together. It wasn’t just about getting by for Elflein or Butt; they wanted to go against the best players on the team each and every day. That often meant going against each other.
They were different than most of the other kids on the team, different in the good kind of way.
“There are parents out there and there are kids out there that think it’s just going to happen. It didn’t just happen for those guys,” Phillips says. “Their work ethic was un-freakin’-believable.”
“All those guys at the higher level, they’re special athletes because they competed every single day. I don’t care if it was running the 40, running the mile, the weight room or individual drills. They were out to beat you.”
Pickerington North's Pat Elflein and Jake Butt pictured with other Central Ohio football stars (via Tom Phillips)
Elflein was a three-star offensive lineman prospect in the 2012 recruiting class who had a handful of offers, most of which came from MAC schools. He was undersized but incredibly hardworking, Phillips said, and when Ohio State linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell came calling late in the recruiting process with a scholarship offer, Elflein quickly jumped at the opportunity. The hometown kid was staying home.
Butt was a junior at the time and emerged as one of the top tight end prospects in the country. Many believed he’d be joining Elflein at Ohio State as the Buckeyes’ tight end of choice in the 2013 class, but Urban Meyer and his national recruiting approached opted to take Marcus Baugh, a California native, instead. Butt was never offered a scholarship by Ohio State. He committed to Michigan.
They ended up at different places, but the practice field at Pickerington North was where Elflein, now an Outland Trophy finalist and potential two-time All-American and Butt, a Mackey Award finalist and All-American tight end, got their careers started.
To this day, Phillips still uses those two as the example for his program.
“You don’t see a lot of our kids wanting to go against the better kids in practice,” Phillips said. “Shoot, Jake picked them out. He said, ‘I want you, you and you.’”
“Elflein was the same way. Circle drill? ‘I want you.’ He’s not picking on a kid he knew he could beat. He was going after the best.”
The friendship continued into college despite the fact Elflein and Butt went to rival schools. Not just any rival schools, either. This is Ohio State and Michigan we’re talking about here. This is the rivalry in college football.
“Pat is one of my best friends,” Butt said back at Big Ten Media Days. “We went to the same junior high, the same high school and we were both captains. I know he’s loved by Buckeye Nation and even as a Wolverine you’ve got to respect that.”
Both achieved an incredible amount of individual success, but it’s Elflein who has three head-to-head victories in the rivalry while Butt is still searching for his first collegiate win over Ohio State.
There will almost certainly be a conversation between the two at some point this week, though Elflein said as of Monday it hadn't happened yet. When it does, however, it won’t be a long chat.
“We’re friends and friendship is bigger than football, but this week it’s not,” Elflein said. “He knows that and I’m sure he feels the exact same way. … We haven’t talked this week yet. We’ll probably give a ‘good luck, see you tomorrow’ something like that, but not a lot of talking this week.”
When Butt was named a captain at Michigan this past summer, Elflein was one of the first people to reach out to his former teammate. They knew this day, Saturday, would be here soon enough.
“That was one of the first things we talked about when he got elected captain for his team is we’re going to see each other at the 50 for the coin toss,” Elflein said. “That will be cool for us, will be cool for Pickerington back home and for our families and friends we grew up with.”
“We’re friends and friendship is bigger than football, but this week it’s not.” – Ohio State C Pat Elflein
“It’s pretty cool, too, to see two guys from the same town make it to be captains on their teams, especially in a rivalry like this.”
Both Elflein and Butt were captains for Phillips at Pickerington North. Now, they're both leaders on their respective teams who turned down early shots at the NFL to come back to school for one more season. Part of the reason was to play in The Game one more time.
It's just a 30-minute drive from Ohio State's campus to Pickerington so there will be plenty of friends and family for both Elflein and Butt inside Ohio Stadium on Saturday to watch these former teammates and good friends square off for the final time.
There will be a pregame handshake between these two good friends and a good luck text the night before. After Saturday's game is over, Elflein and Butt will go back to being good friends, but during those three-and-a-half hours, they'll be anything but.
"Being captains here and now being captains there, that’s special," Phillips said. "It’s like that trophy case. It’s great for our school. It’s great for our community."
